Once Upon A Dream Catcher
by Dreamypastelle
Summary: A five-year-old girl has leukemia, but no hope. Jirachi awakens unexpectedly and has come to grant her wish. But what IS her wish? To just die? To be cured? *AU/Oneshot. May include a bit of humor, philosphy, and bouncy Pokemon. Please R&R. Thanks :3*


**Once Upon A Dream Catcher**

**_By Dreamypastelle_**

_A/N: Written around February-March of 09. That's why it's kinda crappy. Only found it again now. Hope you enjoy and review! :D_

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~Courage for Eternity~

As though it was magic, the shooting star came alive.

She was rather surprised to see a weird, yellow and bright creature walking through her family's garden, strutting as if it was a pampered prince. Stunned by its sudden appearance, she goggled at it through the large window of her secluded and rather lonely room.

A knock on her bedroom's door sent electrical shocks through her whole body. She hastened to the door and twisted the knob, wondering who could bother her at such a time like this.

"Good morning, Primrose dear," her rich and caring mother said.

"Hello Mommy. Is there anything you need?" she asked.

"Yes, of course. Would you kindly go down with me? I have something good to show you. I bet you'll be delighted!" Mother replied.

Primrose's heart did a quick leap. Something good? Was it related to that magnificent yellow creature that she just saw strutting in the garden? Her excitement dissolved when Angelpi, her favorite Happiny Pokemon pet, was trying to tug her skirt. She picked her up and cradled Angelpi so dearly in her arms, then looked back to her mother at the door.

"Okay Mommy," she said, going out the door. "But, could you tell me the surprise? Is it that creature-thing outside?" she continued, pouting with very big eyes. Her mother laughed at her innocence.

"You've been very observant from your window's view, haven't you?" she asked.

"I have always been, Mommy. Ever since you told me that I shouldn't leave my room much since I'm going to save up all my energy for my opur-a-shun, I knew stuff because of my window," Primrose replied.

Her mother softened then sighed. "It's operation, dear. But I'm glad you're okay in your room. Your friends visit you a lot anyways."

"I also have Angelpi, and my pink Buneary, and my Clefairy. I'm never lonely with them," smiled Primrose. It was true for her.

Although she hadn't thought of perfect nicknames for her new Buneary and Clefairy, she still made sure they all had fun and lots of tender, loving care inside her room due to her condition.

Primrose was suffering from Leukemia, and she needed more than chemotherapy; she needed a bone marrow transplant. All her life (or at least ever since her disease was discovered within her), she had spent time in her room. Her parents were rich, though, so she was able to get a lot of comforts, either material or not.

"Primrose?" her mother's voice wafted through her thoughts. She stopped her daydream and had a sheepish look on her face.

"Oh sorry, Mama. I was thinking," she said, following her mother downstairs.

Her mother smiled. Primrose followed her downstairs, careful to look at her steps. Most of the time, she would just sulk around in her room and think that she should just be dead already, but her mother and father always tried to convince her that she could live longer. They tried to think of many solutions to her "giving-up" attitude, and to their happiness, most of them worked.

She remembered the time when they adopted Pokemon just for her, and she whined at how stupid their trick was since she wouldn't even be able to raise them properly and train them like those famous gym leaders.

_"A Pokemon isn't just for fighting and games, dear, they're meant to love you as you should love them," _her father once told her.

_"But papa, even if I would be able to love them, wouldn't there be any problems? I'm not a good caretaker. I'm only five!" _she had whined back.

_"We all make mistakes, Primrose dear, even big people like me and Mama. But that's how we learn. The best way a person could learn is through experience,"_ replied her father, patting her on the head.

Primrose always remembered those words her father had said. She was only a small girl, but the way her father told her, it was just the beginning.

Yes, her stage in life was just the beginning.

But she couldn't help but to think that her stage in life would be the end as well. Ever since her parents told her she was suffering from some bad sickness.

She could feel the false hope and trials her parents were doing just to make her think that she could still live a normal life after her opur-a-shun, or operation, as what her mother said; she was already contented with the idea of dying. There were many other Primroses in the world, probably, and more than six billion people all in all. A little death of hers wouldn't make a difference, as she thought so.

"Are you excited to see it, dear?" her mother asked, her eyes twinkling.

Primrose nodded. They went to the living room where a golden aura was easily seen and felt by everyone. Primrose felt so calm yet happy when she saw the thing giving off the strange, pretty light.

"Mama, is that a _star?!_" exclaimed Primrose, her eyes widening.

It definitely looked like one. It had the shape of a star and the luminosity of those twinkling objects in the sky. Except for one little thing…

"But I didn't know stars had eyes or a mouth or limbs or any body parts! I thought they were just light or balls of gas!" Primrose continued, looking very shocked. Her mother chuckled.

"No, dear, that's a Pokemon!" she said.

"A _Pokemon_?!" replied Primrose, more shocked.

"Yes, that is a Pokemon. One of the rarest ones, in fact," said her mother.

"But how did you get it?" asked Primrose, sitting down.

"Hmmm…" her mother pondered. "It started with a wish…"

_Two days earlier…_

_Mrs. Carmine Melo cried upon hearing the fate of her only child._

_A bone-marrow transplant? Impossible! The possibility of finding a donor was one in a million or one in a thousand, and that was literal. She felt as if she herself was going to die, or even worse. Primrose was only five, and she already had to go through such a thing? Oh no, no, no, no!_

_"If it's the best for her…" she finally told the doctor. He nodded and automatically started the search. _

_"It will take a while for her to find a proper donor, but in the meantime, she'll have to continue with her chemotherapy," said the doctor._

_"Why her? There are so many other people…Why…" she moaned, unable to continued. Her husband gripped her hand as tears fell down her cheeks. The doctor said he'll try his best, and that they should just keep hoping. _

_They left the hospital, their hearts heavy and worn. Even though they could afford the price, what if they never found a donor willing enough to support a five-year-old girl?_

_Nighttime crept slowly. Mr. Melo was fast asleep but Carmine was not. She felt awful and tired but sleep would not come. A little persuasion from her aching limbs sent her downstairs to brew a cup of coffee. _

_The night was peaceful. The moon was out and a few stars were twinkling, a few more hours before dawn. A weird cocoon-like thing floated from the sky and landed on the ground, unnoticed._

_It was deep into the night, but she did not care. All she wanted was her daughter to be okay._

_"Why her?…" she whispered to the trees, her voice faltering as tears began to drop down her already-puffy eyes. No, she would not allow this kind of attitude! She may cry a river, she may break her eyes, she may cry her heart out, but she knew one thing._

_She should have hope…_

"So how does this Pokemon come into the picture?" Primrose interjected. She had been listening to her mother telling her about finding out that Primrose needed an operation. But she just didn't get how a starry Pokemon would suddenly blunder about in their house, giving off the fancy light.

Her mother smiled and continued.

_She sat by the windowsill in the kitchen, drowning her sorrows by gulping a cup of coffee. No, she would be happy! Oh yes, she will fight herself. She will make sure that Primrose will see her as a very hopeful mother. And so, she wished upon the ever black night, sealing a pact,_

_"Hope dangles on a string like slow-spinning redemption..." she sung in a sweet voice._

_And thus, a blinding light pierced from the cocoon. She was not sure if she imagined it, but the feeling was very true and somehow mellow. A star-like creature appeared in front of her own eyes and bowed down. Her mouth hung open as the creature went to her._

_"Jirachi the Wish-Maker at your service!" a tiny voice issued from a weird recorder box, not the mouth, a thing it was holding to talk to her._

_She was too shocked to think of anything, so all she did was send the strange Pokemon to Professor Birch and ask other Pokemon scientists to examine it for her at the crack of morning._

_The next day, it was back with a note explaining everything from the research lab. She read it in a trice and felt surging happiness. There it was right in front of her now, with her daughter, and she knew everything would be alright…_

"Wow, you're a Wish-Maker!" squealed Primrose as she pat Jirachi on the head. Jirachi made a purring sound and a voice issued from the recorder box thingy.

"I only wake up every one thousand years to grant a wish for a week! You're lucky I landed in front of your house!" it said.

"Ooooohhh! So cute!!!" Primrose exclaimed. Her mother smiled.

"Well why don't you talk with Jirachi while I fix some snacks?" she suggested.

"Why are you gonna leave me?" pouted Primrose, crossing her arms.

"I'll make some snacks. Just talk to Jirachi," replied her mother, then going near the door of the living room.

"Why me? Are you gonna go to work and be with papa while I'm all alone here?!" continued Primrose, stomping her feet on the floor. Jirachi looked scared.

"No, I will just give you privacy for your wish and make some snacks! I suggest you wish that you never had Leukemia, right? Or at least wish that you didn't have to go through an operation or bone-marrow transplant," said her mother. She left the room, leaving Primrose and Jirachi alone.

"Are you really a Wish-Maker?" asked Primrose, sitting down.

Jirachi nodded.

"Really? I'm a Dream-Catcher!" Primrose said triumphantly. Jirachi looked surprise and said through the recorder box,

"How is that possible?"

"Well, I really don't know. But I just wanna be a Dream-Catcher! I wanna catch bad dreams and turn them into good ones!" replied Primrose.

"So is that your wish?" asked Jirachi.

Her face fell. "No…I don't know what to wish for…" she muttered.

"Why not follow what your mother suggested then?" Jirachi replied.

"Because…Because… It wouldn't make a difference even if I died!" she said, starting to cry. Jirachi comforted her by climbing the couch she was sitting on.

"There are about 5,721 Primroses in this country, but none of them are the same, including you. So it _will_ make a big difference if you die, because you are the only one who's exactly like you," said Jirachi.

"I don't get you…" she sniffled.

"Okay ummm…Let's say there were two gingerbread men on a platter. They look exactly alike, but the other one was sweeter. If someone ate both of the gingerbread men, would you think he would prefer it if he only ate one?" continued Jirachi.

"No, because he wouldn't be full!" sniffled Primrose again.

"Exactly. If a little thing like gingerbread men could change the happiness of a person, how much more would the death of a five-year-old?" Jirachi said.

"Well…you're right…But I still don't know what to wish for…Could you please tell me more stories with lessons?" asked Primrose, teary-eyed.

"Okay then. One thousand years ago, I granted the wish of this man. He was so greedy that he wish to be the richest man in the world," continued Jirachi. Primrose didn't say anything but she listened intently, and so Jirachi went on.

"So I granted him his wish. And you know what happened to him the next day?" Jirachi asked. Primrose shook her head, her eyes scared.

"He died. Some people killed him to get his money," the recorder box echoed. Primrose wailed but she stopped soon. Her lower lip was quivering, but she decided to ask some more.

"Poor him! If he was just more careful in what he wished for!" she wailed.

"But it is still common, Primrose. All men could suffer from avarice, and it doesn't take the smartest man alive to fight it, for all men go astray at times. It is the inevitable pull of temptation and choice that could create one's desire," Jirachi continued.

Primrose looked confused with Jirachi's deep words. She was about to open her mouth and ask when Angelpi and Primrose's Buneary and Clefairy entered the room, bouncing at Jirachi, who started laughing from the tickles.

"I'm naming you Berry, cuz your color is like a pink cherry and I'm naming you Cuppie cuz I don't know why but it feels right!" Primrose pointed triumphantly to her Buneary and her Clefairy. They all squealed as she hugged them and they sat on the couch.

Primrose then turned to Jirachi to listen some more.

"Well, I could also hear people and their wishes even in my sleep," Jirachi continued, as if there was no interference.

"What do they wish for?" Primrose asked.

"Most of them ask for wealth, too. A few, though, would wish to find the right person they could have as friends or lovers. Some would just randomly wish that they would win against their battles in the gyms with their Pokemon," the recorder box said.

A thought struck Primrose. "Ummm… Would it make sense to wish for courage?" she asked. Jirachi looked at her in a stunning way, but nevertheless smiled. Primrose took the starry smile as a yes.

"I want to wish for courage to be able to go through the operation! The reason why I thought death would've been better is because I'm too afraid to feel the pain of the operation. But I think it would be better to experience it, right?"

"Most people would think that the only thing with value is something material and that life would be best without trials. That's why your mother asked you to just wish for a cure. But, the truth is, miraculous happiness, although fragile, could be found anywhere; it just takes one's heart and not one's eyes to see it. You can start your own eternity," said Jirachi.

"I don't really get what you said but I know it's something good. I WISH FOR COURAGE AND EXPERIENCE!" she shouted out. Jirachi chuckled as a blinding light flashed through the whole room; Primrose gasped and covered her eyes. A horn of a car was heard and a voice rang out. The light disappeared bit by bit.

"Primrose, are you all right?" came the voice of her father, signaling that his work was done. Primrose opened her eyes and saw that Jirachi was gone. Angelpi, Berry and Cuppie were fast asleep, and her parents entered the room.

"Jirachi has granted your wish? What was it?" her mother excitedly asked.

"I wished that I had enough courage to face my operation," Primrose proudly said. Her mother's face fell a little, but she hid it under a big smile.

"And Jirachi just disappeared? Are you sure that's all you asked for?" she asked.

"Yep," said Primrose.

"How come you only wished for courage?" her dad asked, curiosity in his voice and not disappointment.

"Well, I learned lots of things from what Jirachi told me about people and their wishes. And I remember that you told me that we learn best from our experiences, and not running away from them?" replied Primrose, her teensy voice echoing.

From the looks of comprehension and amazement on her parents' faces, she knew that they didn't understand it better than she did; she was only five after all, and she would have to learn more things.

Yes, she believed in her eternity, for she knew she had one, and that was all the courage she needed…

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_A/N: Jirachi's recorder-box-thingy is a translator. XD  
I hope you liked it. I hope Primrose survived. I hope you learned something. And now I hope you review! Lol. :3_


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